


Queer

by asexualjuliet



Series: Note to Self: Don’t be Gay in Indiana [1]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Gay Will Byers, Gen, Homophobia, Pre-Canon, Queer Character, Will Byers is gay and I will die on that hill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-09
Updated: 2019-09-09
Packaged: 2020-10-13 13:10:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20583038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asexualjuliet/pseuds/asexualjuliet
Summary: A study of Will’s relationship with the word “queer.”





	Queer

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoy!!!

Queer. 

Through all rules of logic, it should be one of Will’s favorite words. 

His favorite letter is Q because it’s fun to write, and he loves words that start with it. 

_ Quest, Query, Quadrant, Quartet. _

They’re pretty in his head, with a little tail coming off the Q and weaving in and out of all the other letters. 

_ Queer _ isn’t pretty. 

It’s black with ragged edges, choppy like it was scribbled in sharpie on the door of a bathroom stall. 

It’s the word that’s been hurled at him practically since birth, by his father and Troy and James and whoever else had come to the brilliant realization that Will Byers was a freak and a weirdo and therefore a homo. 

Maybe if things were different, it wouldn’t hurt him so much. Maybe if he was different. 

Things like that hurt more if they’re true, though. Things like _ Frog Face _ and _ Midnight _ and _ Toothless _ and _ Queer_.

Especially _ Queer_.

It’s not Will’s fault. 

It’s not his fault that boys are pretty and girls just _ aren’t_, or that when he sees a boy with bright blue eyes, Will’s heart skips a beat. 

It’s not his fault that he doesn’t like girls. 

It’s not his fault that he’s _ queer_.

Will is seven years old when he first asks his mother what the word queer means.

_ Who said that to you, honey? Are you being bullied? Is it those kids at school again? I can call the school, Will, I can— _

He doesn’t get an answer. 

He‘s ten and a half when Lucas decides that Jennifer Hayes is the prettiest girl in the fourth grade, and he‘s ten and a half when he asks Lucas how he knows. 

_ Why is Jennifer pretty? _

_ What do you mean? _

_ I mean how do you know she’s pretty? _

_ Look at her, Will! I don’t know what you don’t see. _

_ She looks like all the other girls. I mean, how is she any different? _

_ God, why are you making this such a big deal? _

Will doesn’t talk about girls after that. 

He’s twelve when he catches himself staring at Mike in the middle of Pre-Algebra. He doesn’t know he’s doing it until Mike smiles and waves at him. He waves back, feeling flustered and not knowing why. 

That night, all he can think about is the way Mike had smiled at him. It makes his stomach feel funny and his ears go red. 

When Will Byers is thirteen, he realizes why. 

When Will is thirteen, the word queer hits a lot closer to home.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> All mistakes are my own, please let me know if you see any!
> 
> Kudos/Comments are greatly appreciated!


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